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After the Op
James Brown came into the library today –
he went into great detail
about a broken cassette
he’d taken out for one of his kids –
The right reel won’t spin,
the tape spools into great ribbons,
it pours out uncontrollably;
the mechanism’s stuffed.
Then he laughed,
and so did I.
I took off my jersey
to reveal my oversized
New Zealand Electronic Poetry Website t-shirt.
Then, when my co-worker asked me
how my Dad was doing now
I made sure I talked loudly,
enough for James to hear –
he doesn’t know the meaning of convalesce,
he’s already trying to work.
After the op the first thing he asked for was a smoke,
Mum’s making friends with the neighbours
and I imagined as I spoke
James Brown at home
writing a poem
about an eloquent young librarian
trapped against her will
in a small suburban library.
Wellington / Bluff, April 2006
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